A Christmas Surprise
by Tihana Pendragon
Summary: Merlin is unnaturally quiet this Christmas. He hopes Arthur will get his point at least this time. But what happens when Arthur just makes things worse? Will he be able to correct the mistake with a present he thinks Merlin will like? Merlin/Freya in the end. A very Merry Merlin Christmas everyone!


A Christmas surprise

Merlin sighed as he dragged Arthur's heavy armour through his room.

_'This is ridiculous!' _he thought. _'I'm working on Christmas!'_

Well, it wasn't Christmas _yet, _but still. Merlin would rather spend his Christmas with his mother, or with Gwen and Gaius. He would even spend it with Gwaine in the tavern! Anywhere, just not cleaning Arthur's armour!

In that moment, Arthur entered the room. He gave one look at his servant and then made his way over to his desk. He sat down and reached for the paperwork that layed open, scattered all over the surface of the desk.

He noticed Merlin was rather quiet. That was nothing like the Merlin that Arthur knew. For some time, only the ruffling of the papers was to be heard in the room. It annoyed Arthur. Merlin didn't even greet him!

_'And why would I care? He's only a servant to me!'_ Arthur thought, while his eyebrows furrowed.

_'But I do care. He's my friend. The best friend I ever had, actually' _Arthur carefully looked over the edge of the paper in his hands, his gaze landing on Merlin- who was currently sitting on the bed, polishing the King's sword.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. He'll find out what's wrong one way or another, he didn't care what way it will be. With the corner of his eye, he saw that the bottle of ink was standing pretty close to the edge of the table… So he _accidentaly_ stretched his arm out _attempting_ to take some papers that were lying next to it. That simple action caused the little bottle to fall off the desk and land with a crashing sound on the floor.

„Dammit!" Arthur cursed. He looked first at the growing puddle of ink on the floor, and then up at his manservant.

Merlin stood up and, without a word, took a cloth from his cleaning spot. Then he approached the desk, kneeled down by the puddle of ink, and started cleaning it. Again, without a word.

„Alright" Arthur sighed heavily. „What's wrong, Merlin?"

„Nothing's wrong. Why?" Merlin muttered an answer.

„Because you're too silent. Normally you would talk gibberish all the time but today you haven't said a word. Not that it isn't fine. I can finally rest from you blabbing about nonsense all the time, but… It's just not natural" Arthur said, looking down at Merlin who was still cleaning the ink on the floor.

„So you want me to talk nonsense all the time?" Merlin glanced up at the King with a smirk.

„No… Yes… I don't know. I guess I just got used to it. Now I've got nobody to tease about it" Arthur replied. It was true. Arthur loved teasing Merlin, though Gwen had a close eye on how he treated his servant.

„It's Christmas, Arthur. What would someone like me want for Christmas?" Merlin carefully picked up tha glass shards of the, now broken, ink bottle.

Merlin hoped that Arthur would get his point at least this time. He hoped that, at least for Christmas, he would have some time for himself. He was only a human being too. He has his life just like every other person has! He deserves it anyway. How many times did he save Arthur's life? How many times did he get him out of trouble? And how did the, oh so perfect, King repay him? _Do this Merlin. Do that Merlin!_

„A person like you?" Arthur thought for a second. „Probably to be like me" Arthur grinned. Merlin's hope vanished as fast as she had appeared. His jaw hit the floor.

„Merlin? Are you al-" Arthur started but got cut off by Merlin.

„You know what?! I've got enough of this! You only think about yourself! It's always everything about you! Did you ever think about someone else for a change?! You- You… I don't even know how to describe you! You're just like your father!".

The whole room fell silent.

Arthur stared at Merlin with disbelief, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Merlin, on the other hand, felt like he shouldn't have done this but in the same time he felt proud of himself.

Merlin waited for Arthur to say something but it seemed that Arthur lost his gift of speech. At last, Merlin made his way to the door of the room.

„Have a good day, _your Majesty_" he spat out, before he left the room and slammed the door loudly behind him.

„What the heck was _that_ about?!" Arthur managed to choke out after some time.

In the meantime Merlin was walking through the halls of the castle, muttering to himself. At last, he stopped in one hall and sat down on the floor. Gwen, who was walking towards him noticed his bad mood and decided to try and calm him. As she got nearer, she could hear him muttering something like 'idiot' and 'prat'.

She immediately knew why he was angry. _'Arthur, what have you done this_ _time?'_ she thought to herself.

„Hello, Merlin. Why the bad mood?' she asked, although she knew the answer already.

„Arthur's being a selfish prat again. Nothing new" Merlin answered with a sigh. Gwen kneeled next to him, casting him a soft smile.

„What did he do this time?" she asked.

Merlin hesitated for a moment, thinking the Queen will support Arthur this time. In the end, he gave in and answered. „I really hoped he would understand, Gwen. It's Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a family holiday. Everyone will spend it with their family and friends… Everyone except me! I'll be in Arthur's chambers all the time, cleaning his armour or polishing his sword. I know, I'm his servant and I have no right to demand anything from him but sometimes it's just too much to handle".

Throughout his speech, Gwen remained silent. She felt sorry for Merlin. He really did everything he could to make Arthur satisfied. She also knew that Arthur wanted to somehow repay him, but he didn't know how. In fact, Arthur wanted to give Merlin a present this Christmas. The only problem was that he didn't know what to give him.

„Sometimes, Gwen, I think he actually sees just a servant in me" Merlin said quietly.

Gwen shook her head, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. „No, you're wrong Merlin. Very wrong. Arthur sees you like a friend, not a servant. A _best_ friend actually. He just doesn't know how to show it".

The two remained silent for a moment, before Gwen spoke again. „Merlin, what do you want for Christmas?".

„Do you think he'll like it?" Arthur asked nervously, looking at his wife.

„Calm down Arthur. I'm sure he'll love it" Gwen smiled softly at Arthur, snuggling closer to his side.

„I hope he will. And I also hope he won't be angry at me anymore" Arthur sighed. You could see that he cared for his friend very much. For some, this was a pleasant surprise because they never saw him like this.

One of them being Gwaine.

„Aww! Is the Princess saying she likes Merlin?!" Gwaine teased, elbowing Arthur. Who knew what else would Gwaine say if it wasn't that look Arthur gave him? It seemed that Gwaine shrinked under Arthur's gaze.

„Uh, yes. I'll just go and wait for Merlin to come" the Knight smiled nervously, keeping distance between him and the King.

„Hey, Merlin's coming!" Leon said, causing everyone in the room to quiet down. For a moment there was silence, and then Merlin entered the room.

„HAPPY CHRISTMAS MERLIN!" echoed through the room.

Merlin stood there, eyes wide and mouth open. Everyone was here: Arthur and Gwen, Gaius, the Knights… And all that because of him! He finally felt special and like someone actually cared about him.

You could imagine how surprised he was when Arthur approached him, and patted his shoulder. „Merry Christmas, Merlin" the King smiled at him.

„You organized this?!" Merlin asked, happiness and surprise easy to hear in his voice.

„Well, with a little help from Gwen and Gaius…" he looked at his wife and the _physician that were standing next to him and Merlin._

_„Thank you, Arthur. Maybe you're not the prat I thought you are" Merlin grinned._

_„Idiot" Arthur punched his shoulder lightly with a grin on his face._

_„Dollophead" Merlin replied. Both of them laughed._

_„Oh, I've got a present for you. Well, more presents" Arthur corrected himself. Merlin's smile only grew wider when the 'presents' approached him._

_„Mother! Freya!" he shouted, his voice filled with joy. The two women smiled warmly at him and let him to pull both of them in a massive hug._

_„I missed you so much!" Merlin's eyes filled with tears._

_„We missed you too, my son" his mother, Hunith, smiled at him just like Freya._

_„You must thank this to Arthur. If it wasn't him, I don't know how we would visit you" Freya took his hand, making Merlin blush but smile. Arthur watched the whole scene with a smile on his face._

_„Hmm… I never thought a girl would like Merlin. That's something new" Arthur said more to himself than out loud. But Gwen still heard him. She sent him a glare but her gaze softened after a while._

_„You're being mean, you know that?" she crossed her arms. _

_„I'm just happy for him. You know I don't actually mean what I say. He's my best friend after all" Arthur added in a softer tone. Gwen smiled, obviously pleased by her husband's softer side._

_But, of course, someone had to find it amusing to tease him about it._

_„And the Princess' heart warmed at the sight of her servant's happiness"._

_„Shut up, Gwaine"._


End file.
